Elastic-fluid turbine.



PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.'

W. CARTWRIGHT.

BLASTIC FLUID TURBINB.

APPLlOATIoN FILED MAY 10, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1` N0 MODEL.

No. 770,736. PATENIED SEPT. 27, 1904. W. J. GARTWRIGHI'.

ELAS'I'IG FLUID TURBINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1904.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A UNITED STATES Patented September 27, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

WILLIAM J. OARTVVRIGHT, OF YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO FRANK L. WING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELASTlC-FLUID TURBINEl SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,736, dated. September 27, 1904.

Application iled May l0, 19041 Serial No. 207,209. (No model.)

To all whom, it ina/y ccrz/ccrn:

Be it known that I,W1LL1AM J. OARTWRIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, tain new and useful Improvements in Elastic- Fluid Turbines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof. This invention relates to motors or engines of that class in which a turbine or bucketwheel is made to rotate by direct coaction therewith of steam or other elastic fluid. Two distinct types of such engines or motors have generally been recognized, the one type including' what are known as impact-turbines,

in 4which the rotation of the wheel is effected by impact of the steam or other iiuid upon the blades or buckets of the wheel, and the other type including what are known as reactionturbines, in which the wheel is caused to 'rotate by the reaction of the steam or other Huid issuing from the buckets of the wheel. v

lt is the object of this invention to increase the efficiency of engines or motors of the class referred to and also to produce a turbine of relatively slow speed. In the attainment of this object the ordinary construction of turbines is so far modied that the improved turbine partakes of the nature of both the impact-turbine and the reaction-turbine. The steam or other propelling iuid is admitted to the wheel through one or more expansion-noz- Zles of the ordinary type, the buckets being so constructed that their inlets, into which the propelling iiuid is delivered, are of greater area in cross-section than their outlets and being so arranged that the propelling iiuid issuing from outlets of less area in cross-section than the inlets further operates to propel the wheel by reaction, adding materially to the efliciency. If desired, the steam may be used in successive wheels, a loss of pressure being suiered in each wheel until it is capable of doing no further work.

, The features of construction whereby the eect of impact and the effect of reaction are combined in one structure, together with other features of improvement which are capable of State of New York, have invented cerdicated by the line 4 use to greater or less advantage with turbines of either of the well-recognized types, will be explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which, for the purpose of enabling the nature of the invention to be clearly understood, they are illustrated as embodied in a suitable structure.

In said drawings, Figure l is a view in longitudinal central section, on the plane indicated by the line 1 l of Fig. 2, of a turbine lwhich embodies the invention, the same comprising several separate turbines or bucketwheels. Fig. Qis a transverse section through one of the wheels, on the plane indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, a governing device being also shown in elevation. Fig. 3 is a detail edge view of one of theturbines or bucketwheels. Fig. 4 yis a detail view, partly in elevation and partly in section, on the plane in- 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. is a detail side face view of the face-plate shown at the left in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the plates which form the dividingwalls between successive buckets. Fig. 7 is .a detail view in section on the plane indicated by the line 7 7 of Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a detail view of a portion of the governing-ring developed. Figs. 9 and 10 are detail sectional views in the plane of the axis and in a plane transverse to the axis, illustrating a different arrangement of the buckets in the wheel.

Inv the construction ofthat form of motor which is represented in the drawings the main shaft c is mounted to rotate in suitable bearings in the end`plates Z) of the engine-casing. Between the end plates are disposed one or more annular sections c, according to the number of turbines or bucket-wheels which it is desired that the engine shall have. These several annular sections are alike, except the first, which is formed to include the inletchamber and the exhaust-chamber for the first wheel and is also yadapted to receive a governing device, `as hereinafter explained, andthe several sections may be vbolted together, as represented. For each section except the last there is provided a plate d, which lits closely about the shaft c, forming a partition-wall between each wheel and the next.

This plate may be formed integral with the corresponding section or may be formed separately and secured thereto, as may be most convenient. In either case it is formed with a circumferential Hange ZZ', which overlaps the following wheel. In the case of the first section a filling-ring Z 2 takes the place of the overlapping Hange Z in each succeeding section. The expansion-nozzles c ai'e formed between the ring Z2 or each Harige d and the next adjacent Harige c in suitable position for cooperation with the corresponding wheels. They may be formed in the filling-ring Z2 or the Harige CZ', as the case may be, or, as represented in the drawings, they may be formed in a separate ring f, which is secured between the filling-ring @Z 2 or each Hange Z and the adjacent Hange c.

In each section of the motor there is secured upon the shaft Z a turbine or bucketwheel g, and in the rim thereof are formed the buckets Zi, which for convenience may be termed compression-buckets, in that they are so formed as to reduce the cross-sectional area of the stream of steam or other elastic propelling Huid as it passes from their inlets to their outlets, in this sense compressingthe Huid whether the pressure at the outlet is greater or less than the pressure at the inlet. For convenience in construction these may be formed as follows: The rim of the wheel may be first formed with a circumferential groove g' and may be slitted transversely and in the planes oblique to the radii, as at g2, to receive the partition-plates c', each of' which, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, may be formed with a notch c" nearer one side than the other and with a limb or extension 2 at one side. When all of the plates have been placed in the slits g2 of the wheel, they may be secured in place by a band k, which enters the notches Z', serving not only to hold the plates in position, but to assist in the proper formation of the compression-buckets and fitting steam-tight against the Harige c toform the wall between the inlet-chamber-and the exhaust-chamber. A face-plate Z, arranged to overlap the plates z' at one edge, may be secured upon one face of the wheel g, and a face-plate m,yalso formed to overlap the edges of the plate c' of the wheel g, may be secured upon the other face of the wheel. The plate m is also flanged inwardly, as at m', to abut against the band Zr, such Harige being lslitted, as at m2, to engage the edges of the llimbs or extensions 2 of the platesz' and also being cut away, as at m3, to form the compressionnozzle for each bucket, terminating in a narrow mouth, as clearly shown at m4 in Figs. 3 and 5, opening into the annular exhaustchamber n, which also forms the annular supply-chamber for the next wheel or in the case of the last section communicates with the exhaust-pipe 0.

It will be understood that in a motor in fito which the steam is delivered successively from one wheel to another, as represented in Fig. l, the expanding nozzles and the compression-buckets of successive wheels are successively increased in size, as represented in Fig. l.

For the control of the motor it is desirable to provide means whereby` the number of' expansion-nozzles. and consequently the number ofcompression-buckets in the wheel to which steam is admitted, may be successively reduced. To this end there is provided about the first nozzle-ring f and between it and the annular supply-chamber p, into which the steam is admitted, as at q, from a suitable source, a governor-ring 1, which is provided with a series or withl several series of ports, as r r2 r3, &c., corresponding with the inlets of successive expansion -nozzles e, but

,successively of greater length. With the governor-ring in normal position, as indicated in Fig. 2, steam is admitted through all of the ports to all of the corresponding expansionnozzles; but if it is desired to reduce the sup.- ply of steam the ring is shifted, and thereby the inlet of the nozzle or nozzles e corresponding to the port or ports rf will Hrst be closed, leaving the others open, and thereafter the inlets corresponding to the ports r2 will be closed, and so on. In this manner the number of nozzles and buckets through which steam is admitted is successively reduced. The governing-ring may be shifted by hand, if desired, or by a suitable governor mechanism, such as is shown, for example, at s in Fig. 2.

It will be obvious that when steam is admitted to some of the expansion-nozzles and not to others the pressure in the common exhaust-chamber will be in excess of that in those buckets to which no steam is at the moment admitted. It is therefore desirable that provision should be made whereby the pressure 'in the exhaust-chamber may close the outlets of such buckets. This may be accomplished by extending slightly beyond the rim of the Wheel the limbs Z2 ofthe partition plates or blades 71 as shown at Z2 in Fig. 4, such extension 3 being reduced in thickness, if necessary, so1 that under the conditions of operation they will be somewhat Hexibl'e. The rapid rotation of the wheels by reason of the windage will tend to close these Hexi'ble outlets of the buckets, especially when the pressure Within the buckets is reduced below `that in the exhaust-chamber, and such excess `of pressure in the exhaust chamber will .further tend to hold them closed, so that there IOO , ,i I I- I I Y.fm

gential with respect to the wheels g, as represented in Fig. 2, being preferably so proportioned with respect to the compression-buckets L as to cover several of such buckets, as also shown in lFig. 2, the mouth of each expansion-nozzle having preferably an area slightly less thanthe aggregate area of themouths of the corresponding buckets, so that the steam shall be carried by its own momentum within the mouths of the buckets without leakage. Each of the buckets, as will be seen upon examination of the drawings, tapers gradually from its mouth to its outlet mi, so that the steam which is carried through the bucket by its momentum is gradually reduced to a stream of less cross-sectional area than that of the stream entering the inlet and is discharged as a relatively small stream against the steam in the exhaust-chamberrlhe steam therefore does work upon the wheels not only by its impact as it enters the buckets, but by its reaction in the following exhaust-chamber n as it leaves the outlets m5 It will be obvious that the buckets might be disposed in the wheel otherwise than as hereinbefore described. Thus, for example, instead of having their outlets in the outer periphery of the bucket-ring of the wheel they might be arranged, as shown at /L' in Figs. 9 and l0, with their outlets opening at the inner periphery of a bucket-ring g2 of the wheel. Within the bucket-ring g2 may be formed an annular chamber g3, which communicates, through ports g4, formed in the web of the wheel, with the exhaust-chamber n.

Various other modifications of details of construction will readily suggest themselves, and it is to be understood accordingly that the invention is not to be restrictedto the precise details of construction and arrangement which are described herein.

I claim as my invention# 1. An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel provided with buckets, such buckets having their inlets of greater area in cross-section than their outlets, and an expansion-nozzle arranged to deliver the elastic fluid to such buckets.

2. An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel provided with buckets, each of such buckets tapering toward the outlet, and an expansionnozzle arranged to deliver the elastic fluid to the inlets of the buckets.

3. An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel provided with buckets, such buckets having their inlets and their outlets in the rim of the wheel and tapering' toward their outlets, and an expansionfnozzle to deliver the elastic fluid to the buckets.

4. An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel with compression-buckets, said buckets having their inlets and their outlets in the rims of the wheel and tapering from the inlet to the outlet, and a nozzle to deliver elastic fluid to said buckets.

An elastic-flu`id turbine having a wheel with compression-buckets and means to close the outlets of said buckets.

6. An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel with compression-buckets and means actuated by external pressure to close the outlets of said buckets.

7 An elastic-fluid turbine having a wheel with compression-buckets, the walls of said buckets at the outlets being exible to close the outlets under external pressure.

8. An elastic-fluid turbine comprising a wheel formed with a peripheral channel and plates dividing said channel into buckets, said plates being extended beyond the rimof the wheel and iiexible to close the outlets of the buckets under'external pressure.

This specification signed and witnessed this 30th day of April, A. D. 1904.

WILLIAM J. CARTWRIGHT.

In presence of- ANTHoNr N. JESBERA, W. B. GREELEY. 

